Weinstein Company Suing NBC For Sabotaging Project Runway

We hate to overdo it on the Weinstein Company news, but we don't make it, we just report it.

While the future of Project Runway is tangled up in litigation over its future home, The Weinstein Company is furious at Bravo for poorly promoting the show's final season, which just wrapped two weeks ago. Weeks before the fifth-season opener, it appeared as though NBC Universal was doing little to promote its lame-duck design competition—particularly compared to the onslaught of new ads and press materials released before previous seasons. Now The Weinstein Company is claiming NBC Universal sabotaged the show's final season on Bravo because of its planned move to Lifetime, and Harvey and co. are suing. (Wonder how Goldman Sachs feels about that?)

THR: In papers filed Friday in federal court in New York, producer the Weinstein Co. claims Bravo intentionally refused to promote Season 5 of the reality series because of the move and is seeking unspecified damages.

TWC said some of the things Bravo did to sabotage the ratings and value of the show included changing the show's airtime; running a small number of ads; creating "mundane and unappealing" ads; providing little information for the press about the season premiere; and revealing spoilers about future episodes.

The company also alleges that when Bravo began to suspect that the show might move to a rival network, it created "copycat shows" based on the "Runway" format.

Bravo's parent company, NBC Universal, said in a statement: "Not only do we categorically disagree with the Weinstein's Co.'s assertions, but the fact is that Season 5 was the most-watched and highest-rated 'Project Runway' cycle ever."